LSU football team to change its stripes with new uniforms for Auburn game

BATON ROUGE - How do the Tigers change their stripes? Pro Combat uniforms, naturally. The LSU football team will have an unconventional look when they take the field against Auburn on Saturday afternoon at Tiger Stadium. As part of Nike's Pro Combat uniform promotion, LSU will wear all white and have subtle tiger stripes on the original helmet logo and inside the numbers. Nike also added a vertical purple swatch under the sleeve and old-gold piping around the shoulders.

For the second time, LSU will stray from its traditional look with new Nike Pro Combat uniforms for Saturday's game against Auburn. LSU also wore a Pro Combat uniform against Arkansas in 2009.

The most unique parts of the uniform are its accessories. Players will wear gloves that make the "Eye of the Tiger" logo when players put their hands together, and specially designed purple-and-gold cleats.

LSU Coach Les Miles, a traditionalist on conference realignment and uniforms, gave tepid approval of the new look.

"I can tell you that our uniform will represent LSU and look very much like a uniform an LSU football team will wear," Miles said. "Some of the uniforms are a wonderfully artistic reflection that someone else had. I think our guys will enjoy the uniform, and that it is the right uniform for an LSU team to wear."

"We look at it as an accomplishment," junior wide receiver Russell Shepard said. "We worked our butt off to get notoriety from Nike, and the top teams wear these styles of uniforms. We're going to have fun and look good and look all swagged out in them."

Said sophomore linebacker Kevin Minter: "You know, I love the original jerseys, but those Pro Combats -- we've been anticipating wearing them. We hardly ever change out of the original jerseys."

Nike tabbed nine teams to wear the Pro Combat uniforms this season, seven of which were ranked in the AP Top 25 to start the season. The only unranked teams were service academies Army and Navy.

LSU hasn't strayed much from its traditional look. Sans the purple "Barney" pants, white helmets and gold jerseys while Gerry DiNardo was coach in the 1990s, the only tweak to the jerseys was in 2009 when "LSU" was added under the collar.

The last time LSU wore an unconventional uniform was at home against Arkansas in 2009, the first year of Nike's Pro Combat series.

LSU director of athletic equipment Greg Longfellow, who has been with the program 20 years, said the program wanted to maintain a strong sense of tradition with the Pro Combat uniforms this season.

"One of the things that we try to do is to keep our traditions somewhat standard," Longfellow said. "There are certain elements that we try to keep together."

Longfellow traveled to Nike headquarters in Oregon this spring to view a sample of the Pro Combat uniforms. He returned with a prototype, and the players loved it.

"Everything that goes into it excites these guys," Longfellow said. "They understand the tradition we have ... but the opportunity to do something different doesn't happen all the time."

The uniforms might appeal to the players and some fans, but a simple question remains: Why fool around with tradition?

"I think the LSU (Pro Combat uniform) is fine," said Paul Lukas, a uniform columnist for ESPN. "But is it an improvement over what LSU normally wears?

"LSU has one of the most beautiful, kind of perfect uniforms in college football. Why would you want to mess with that?"

Copy cats

The genesis to the college football uniform craze can be traced to Eugene, Ore., where the Oregon Ducks, the original fashionistas, have been at the forefront of dazzling, innovative and sometimes perplexing uniform combinations for the past decade.

Nike founder Phil Knight, an Oregon alum, played an integral role in supplying the Ducks with an array of gaudy uniform designs.

Oregon's latest set, introduced in January 2009, can be mixed and matched to form 384 different combinations and features seven colors: green, black, white, yellow, grey, gold and steel.

The school's website even has a "Uniform Tracker" for fans to see what combination Oregon has worn each game.

Despite the Ducks' recent success -- they reached the BCS title game last season before falling to Auburn -- they might be better known nationally for their style.

"I think (the uniform) helps ... but there's a lot more to this program than the uniforms," Oregon Coach Chip Kelly said. "We played in the national championship a year ago. I hope they don't forget about that."

Like the trendy offenses that permeate college football, uniforms, too, are fair game. Oklahoma State, Arizona State, Washington State and Maryland became the latest to adopt Oregon's fashion sense, and they introduced a dizzying array of new uniform combinations this season.

The gaudy uniforms are all about marketability, especially toward the younger generation, according to Lukas.

"It used to be you couldn't go to the store and buy this stuff. They hadn't figured that fans would spend $200 on a polyester shirt," Lukas said. "The only question that a team asked itself when deciding what uniform to wear was, 'Does this look good on the field?' That is now about the fourth or fifth question that gets asked. The first question is, 'Will this sell?'"

The Terrapins created a national hubbub Sept. 5 when they took the field in their season opener against Miami in a uniform based on the Maryland state flag.

The uniform was polarizing, for college football pundits and fans alike. The helmet and shoulder pads were split into two distinct halves -- one emblazoned with a black-and-gold checkerboard pattern, and the other with a red-and-white cross, each representing the coat of arms for the founding families of the state.

Under Armour, whose founder and CEO Kevin Plank is a Maryland alum, designed the uniform.

"The goal with the uniform redesign was to stay true to the tradition of Maryland football and the state of Maryland but update the look with a more current, edgier design," Under Armour said in a statement.

As outrageous as the uniform looked, it put Maryland in the spotlight. It was a trending topic on Twitter, and even LeBron James felt compelled to weigh in.

"OH GOSH! Maryland uniforms #Ewwwwww!" James tweeted.

Since Maryland is not a traditional power, it could use the publicity -- good or bad.

The mind-blowing uniform combinations conjured up by Maryland and Oregon might get recruits to think about going to their school.

"I think between the (uniforms) and the facilities, it really gets a recruit's attention, it gets them to maybe take a visit," Oregon senior tight end David Paulson said. "Once they ... meet the coaches and the staff here, I think that's what really sells it. It does help at least to catch the eye of a kid in high school and get their attention."

In some cases, the designs have been so focused on being brazen that they weren't functional.

Under Armour designed a uniform for South Carolina to honor the sacrifice of wounded American war veterans. The jerseys had camouflage numbers and swatches on the sleeve, and the Gamecocks were going to wear them for their Oct. 1 game against Auburn.

But the camouflage worked too well.

The referees, most fans and people in the press box couldn't read the numbers. The uniforms were scrapped after warmups.

Traditional looks

For every Oregon, Maryland and Oklahoma State looking to catch extra attention, there's a Southern Cal and Penn State, where tradition reigns supreme. Those schools, all sponsored by Nike, haven't worn Pro Combat uniforms, and likely won't.

Tony Ding/The Associated PressNotre Dame and Michigan wore special-edition 'retro' uniforms for their game Sept. 10. The Irish's jerseys had green numbers and the helmets included a green four-leaf clover.

"There's also the other side where it's pretty neat to have a historic tradition that has changed at times a little over the years, but has not had wholesale changes to the uniform."

Said Alabama Coach Nick Saban: "I think what we wear is a lot bigger than me, and a lot bigger than anyone. It's what everybody's expectation is of what they want to see when Alabama plays football, and what they're used to seeing."

Penn State and its octogenarian coach, Joe Paterno, offer no frills when it comes to uniforms, with solid white pants, white and navy jerseys and white helmets with a solitary navy line down the middle.

"I'm sure Nike would love nothing more than to get Penn State really tricked out," Lukas said. "What would be a better story than plain-Jane Penn State going all glitter and gonzo?"

Other traditional powers, however, don't mind smudging the line between history and forward thinking.

Notre Dame and Michigan wore special-edition "retro" uniforms for their game Sept. 10. The Irish's jerseys had green numbers and the helmets included a green four-leaf clover. The Wolverines' jerseys had maize and blue stripes across the shoulder pads, a maize "M" in the middle and a number over the heart.

"Right now, it's that trendy kind of time as it relates to uniforms. I think there's got to be a balance," Notre Dame Coach Brian Kelly said. "I want a balance. I want to be able to let our kids feel as though they're a part of the mainstream.

"We don't want to stray too far away from who we are. You don't want it to be so staunch where you can't have a tweak here or there, but so crazy that you have a different look each and every week."

One thing is certain about the uniform changes in college football -- as much as they are meant to catch attention, they are here to stay.